Asian Americans in the Twenty-first Century
Oral Histories of First to Fourth Generation Americans from China, Japan, India, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and Lao

"Everybody thinks I'm crazy. They think a Japanese country singer can never make it in the U.S. But I followed my dreams." Hank Sasaki, Country and Western singer/songwriter, interviewed in Asian Americans In The Twenty-First Century

The collective term "Asian American" comprises more than twenty distinct nationalities and ethnic groups, and today there are more than 12 million Asian Pacific Americans living in the United States. In this all-new collection of fascinating interviews with students, lawyers, engineers, politicians, stay-at-home moms, and activists, Joann Faung Jean Lee again draws upon her great skill and sensitivity as a journalist to reveal a rich mosaic of Asian American identities.

We hear a range of voices: Dale Minami recounts his historic involvement in a landmark legal case that changed the way America understands the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; Ruby Chow remembers how she used her position as a beloved restaurateur to launch a successful campaign for county council woman in Seattle, Washington; and Daniel Jung speaks of the complexities of African American and Korean relations in Los Angeles, where his father owned a liquor store when Daniel was a teenager in the 1990s.

Candid and compelling, the interviews reveal intimate and often conflicting thoughts about Asian American identities, immigration, family, relationships, and educational and professional achievement.

Joann Faung Jean Lee is currently a professor and the chair of the communication department at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. She has taught at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and was formerly a broadcast journalist for CNN. She lives in Northvale, New Jersey.